Unity of Walnut Creek

Monday, January 21, 2013

From
Rev. David McArthur (edited
by Mike McGuire, not reviewed by the speaker)

Journey into the heart Bre'r
Rabbit had the mopes—he had lost the race to the tortoise and other
things were going wrong. So Mrs. Rabbit sent him to the Witch Rabbit
deep in the swamp, and it was getting dark. This represents the
journey into the heart—a difficult journey. Not everyone gets
there. We usually let our brains list all the ways we are not
better, not good enough, or not strong enough. Doesn't fear come
right in?

First,
Witch Rabbit sends Bre'r Rabbit to catch a squirrel. That's your
first step—grab your squirrellythoughts and “tie them up in a
bag”.

2nd,
Bre'r Rabbit has to get a snake hiding in the grass. It looks
menacing. It embodies fear. When
we run into the experience of fear it stops us and our knowledge of
the beautiful power within shuts down. Bre'r Rabbit
sweet-talks the snake and when it relaxes, he snares it, holds it up,
and goes. If our attention is solely on the fearful thing, that's
all we see. Do we put our attention on the threat of the snake or
on the wisdom in our hearts? When our attention is on the heart and
what it's telling us, we open and the knowledge comes. It doesn't
mean the challenges won't cause pain. But we go into overcare, which
is when we focus so much on the hurt or danger, especially for the
people we care for, that we don't go to the guidance in the heart.
We let fear of what could
occur stop the unfoldment of the greater good. It is not that you
fear something that is not really possible, but turn from the fear to
the heart. Grab the snake and go.

Lastly,
take that fear to the heart and follow the guidance within, even if
the path is not fully seen. Bre'r Rabbit's final task was to get a
tusk from the elephant in the forest. He has no idea how he'll do
it, but he goes to get it anyway. The elephant runs into a tree and
the tusk just falls off. Sometimes we just have to take on the fear
of power we see “out there” over us. But the power (and fear) is
inus.
Part of the gift of taking on the fear and finding the wisdom is
that the fear falls away. It no longer has power over you. That's
when it's fun!

Monday, January 14, 2013

Generosity Expresses The Presence Of God From
Rev. David McArthur (edited
by Mike McGuire, not reviewed by the speaker)

Kimeli,
a young Maasai African, lived in a rural village that did not even
have roads. He had no father, and was considered a lower human. But
Kimeli admired the generosity of doctors, and wanted to be a generous
doctor. And there is always the next step. So Kimeli ran away to a
town that had a school, and the headmaster allowed him to attend.
From there he applied to colleges in America. The University of
Oregon offered a scholarship. Grants from a benefactor in Florida
let him attend. Subsequently he got his masters from Stanford! If
he can do it without resources...

What's
impossible doesn't bother God. There is a flow of abundance that is
completely inconsistent with what we “know”. But it tells us
there is more to this consciousness. What this is, is when you say
“yes”, that's your purpose. It constantly unfolds in our lives.
And in this time of powerful human consciousness, you can always go
deeper! We are on purpose! The universe opens up and provides. It
is “fulfillment”. The whole universe is wired to fulfill your
purpose!

On
9/11 Kimeli wanted to respond to the pain he saw in Americans. Now
held in honor, he went to his tribe at “storytime”. (Without
technology, they communicate through their stories.) Kimeli went and
told how the generous people in America were hurting. The Maasai
couldn't even conceive of a place like New York City. But he asked
for permission from the elders to give his cow to the Americans. In
Kenya, a person's cow is their most important possession. Having one
is comfort, it is security, it is life. The Maasai were very touched
by his story and decided to give 14 cows! They asked the American
ambassador to receive their gift. At the ceremony a thousand Maasai
in full warrior dress sang the Star Spangled Banner with their hands
over their hearts!

Kimeli's
response had been one of compassion and generosity. All along the
way he had a consciousness of generosity. Jesus taught, as you give
you will receive. Abundance comes not to us or for us, but through
us. “...for
God so loved the world that he gave his only son. For who soever
believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.”
This quote is mostly used in other ways, but here are the words love
and give. What is given is the Son—the divine pattern, the Christ,
the Atman, the Buddha Mind, the I Am. Out of love. Jesus showed us
the pattern and it is in everyone of us. God doesn't give because we
ask, but because it is the very nature of the divine. God can't
reject. Yes, we can reject, but it is not in God's nature. Life
always flows abundantly.

And
there is always the next step. This week look for the opportunity to
be more generous, every day, with your time, understanding,
compassion. Listen. “Divine
generosity flows freely through me.”
This is when it gets to be fun! It's ok to give away the cow!

Sunday, January 6, 2013

From
Sheila Gautreaux(edited
by Mike McGuire, not reviewed by the speaker)

Bring
forth your power. Align with each level of the trinity of your
being—MIND, BODY and SPIRIT. Live the “charmed” life of a
spiritual being in a physical body. We are created by the goodness
of the universe, so all the power of the universe is in us.

Grasp
the Divine MIND Truth and align with it, bring it into your MIND.
Chant it, affirm it, speak it throughout the day every day until you
KNOW it. Then bring it into your physical BODY. FEEL it in every
cell in your BODY, displacing belief in tiredness and illness. “I
feel I am whole!” No feeling; no healing. Once you feel it,
Spirit takes it out into the BODY of your affairs.

The
Holy SPIRIT is our liaison with the mind of God, and is always
available. Sit in quiet. Write your question at the top of a sheet
of paper. Start by praying 3 times, “Come, Holy SPIRIT”. The
response is actually palpable. You will feel it. Then ask. You
will be guided as to “What is mine to do?”

We
are afraid of our power because we don't understand. God is not
powerful,
but power.
God is not loving,
but love.
God
is not peaceful,
God is peace.
Live life as if you ARE blessed, charmed, powerful.

Steps
to “Living the Charmed Life”: Accept your power. It's yours.
Affirm it. “I accept the divine power that flows through me, as
me!” Learn. Discover what you're capable of. Apply the powers in
the laboratory of your life. Apply; apply. Practice; practice;
practice. Face and vanquish your demons of fear, judgment, hurt,
anger, etc. They prevent you from standing in your power. Don't run
from your doubts and fears. They are illusions and are not as
powerful as you believe. Once you shine the light they disappear.
Don't let them and their relatives move in. Bar the door. Lastly,
protect the innocent—the innocent that you are. We have not lost
our innocence. We are still the pure, innocent beings we were with
God before the world was made.

Be
the Christ in the world. When you walk out all suited up in your
power you will begin to bring transformation into the world! Your
light will shine so brilliantly! People will feel it.

Pray
the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi as “Lord, make me an instrument
of your POWER. Where there is hatred, let me so love...” and so
on. You are the beloved of God. It is God's good pleasure to
support you in living the charmed life!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

From
Rev. David McArthur (edited
by Mike McGuire, not reviewed by the speaker)

A Mystical Experience. The
accomplished pianist Komiko tells that when she was 13, she went
snorkeling, and a trio of dolphins came and played all around her.
Imagine the joy, the beauty, the very quality of life in that moment!
Thereafter she awakened nightly to music. She could see the notes
and would write them down. It was a mystical experience. She could
see more clearly the amazing beauty of life itself. She saw the
experience of the presence of God as beauty, and was transformed.

The only thing to see. You
know the only thing that is there is the presence of God, so the only
thing to see is the beauty. Like Harry Potter, use your magic wand
to direct the intention of both your mind (which focuses) and the
power of your heart (which transforms). Focus your intention. Then,
when you are ready, use the very special incantation “Reveal
the Beauty. Reveal the Beauty. Reveal the Beauty”.
It isn't often instantaneous. Sometimes you have to try pretty
hard, but it is always there. It transforms barriers.

The
Navajo pray

In
beauty may I walk; All day long may I walkThrough the returning
seasons may I walk...On the trail marked with pollen may I
walkWith grasshoppers about my feet may I walkWith dew about
my feet may I walk; With beauty may I walk.With beauty before me
may I walk; With beauty behind me may I walkWith beauty above me
may I walk; With beauty all around me may I walkIn old age,
wandering on a trail of beauty, lively, may I walk...It is
finished in beauty; It is finished in beauty

Use the spell. It
is the heart of the mystical experience. You experience the touch of
the divine. Your homework this week is to use the spell, the
intention to transform, to reach through and see that beauty. And
treasure the result! Then turn that wand inward upon yourself and
“Reveal
the Beauty”
there, for you are the presence of that beauty, the presence of the
divine!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

From
Rev. David McArthur (edited
by Mike McGuire, not reviewed by the speaker)

What is love, really?Charles
Fillmore, that great American mystic, said that the faculty of love
is the greatest power of man, the greatest of all our capacities.
“The
pure essence of Being that binds together the whole human family...
that joins and binds in divine harmony the universe and everything in
it; the great harmonizing principle known to man. Divine love is
impersonal; it loves for the sake of loving. … Like the sun, its
joy is in the shining forth of its nature. … Love is the great
harmonizer and healer.”

Compassion. A
woman, Nettie, remembered that when she was 12 she joined other kids
in meanly ridiculing her twin sister, who was severely disabled and
seen as a freak in their small town. So her mother put her alone in
a room with only a photo album. It was filled with pictures of the
twins since they were small. Nettie saw the pain that her sister had
endured over the years. One picture was inscribed, “The doctors
give me pain. Nettie makes me laugh.” She realized what she had been doing and
the hurt she had caused her sister. At that moment she changed.

Flow. Love
is always there. It flows like a spigot that's always dripping. We
can choose how much to turn it on. That flow takes you to
intelligence. It is
intelligence, a capacity to understand that helps us resolve the
differences, that illuminates and harmonizes. What unifies us rather
than separates us islove.
You don't have to know how.

You know what to do. A four
year old liked to go to the house next door. One day his mother
watched as he crawled up beside the neighbor on the front porch
swing. The man had recently lost his wife of many years. As she
watched her son coming back home, she asked what he did there. He
answered, “I helped him cry.” If a four year old knows what to
do, so do you. Remove that which separates us. You are
love. It takes us from that place of separation to that place of
wholeness and harmony. It goes far beyond the walls and heals and
harmonizes. Feel the spigot open as you say, “I
am a radiating center of divine love.” YES
YOU ARE!

Monday, October 29, 2012

From
Rev. David McArthur (edited
by Mike McGuire, not reviewed by the speaker)

Our journey of consciousness. Aladdin
lived in poverty and always felt he had to take from others. As we
do at this level, he felt like a victim. At this “miserable
sinner” level we are asleep to divine love. Then when adversity
shows up we feel it proves we are of no value. Through adversity,
though, Aladdin is brought to caves filled with treasure (the
subconscious) where he finds many many beautiful things. When you
overcome adversity, you feel power. This changed Aladdin's
consciousness. Feeling that he now had some power, some value, he
didn't need to steal. And he could love. Goodness showed up out of
the bad. At this level we are still asleep, but how we think of
ourselves has changed. We feel we can
get a little good from life, from the adversity, from the bad.

Spiritual awakening. You are not miserable sinners. Then
Aladdin sees the princess and falls in love. The head experiences
the heart. Aladdin now has purpose. He
feels he has value. He now sees that power is for serving the
purpose, to serve wholeness. The genie (which fulfills the power of
the heart) creates for Aladdin and the princess their own palace away
from the Sultan, who is the Father figure. (They woke up; they now
know they are children of God.) At this level, you know you are fine
and wonderful just the way you are. The world loves you.

There is only good and more good.Then
the princess and the palace were taken by the sorcerer and Aladdin
knew “it had been too good to be true”. This is believing in 2
powers, good and bad. As long as you believe it, it'll show up. But Aladdin went back to the heart.
The resolution was not through the thoughts (Aladdin) but through the
heart (the princess). She denied life to the 2nd
power (the sorcerer); she killed him. Love overcomes fear. That's
the gift.

The truth. The
One Power dwells within man and all other beings and throughout the
universe. One. In the heart, which knows the truth, there is no
fear. No tension. No nervousness. You are at one with every other
living person on Earth. No separateness. You have touched this
oneness—with babies, with good friends, or in the silence. Nothing
else is real. We can manifest and play with a 2nd
power, but it is not the truth. God is good all the time! There is
only one presence, one power—the all loving goodness of God! And
that's the truth!

Sunday, October 21, 2012

From
Rev. David McArthur (edited
by Mike McGuire, not reviewed by the speaker)

We are one. We really
are
one. It doesn't look that way. It appears that you are separate
from me. Emilie Cady said, “Man,
who is at first living in the selfish animal part of himself, will
grow up ...to the divine or spiritual understanding wherein he knows
that he is one with the Father...”
The Father is the part of the divine that loves and cares for us,
and is within us, yet is infinite.

You are one with that otherpolitical candidate, and more troubling, all those people you just
don't get who support that candidate. When watching the debate, I
first felt condescension for them. It was an experience of
separation, viewing them as lessthan.
It was uncomfortable. I thought maybe I should try something
different. I stepped back and I saw that all the people really
cared. A sense of connection took place. I stepped farther back and
saw all the country experiencing a polarization which hurt, and I
felt compassion. How difficult it is to work with those hugely
complex issues! And I saw that the polarity blocks clarity, and our
fears are surfacing. When we fail to see that the One Power cares
for us all, we instead empower our fears. We see ourselves as
separate and different. We fail to see our oneness unfolding in the
most important vote, which is for care.

All you see you are. This
world can't see beyond its opposites, or see our oneness. That comes
from within us. Jean Houston: “I was no longer just Jean Houston,
age 6. I had awakened to a consciousness that spanned centuries.
Everything was important. It was as if I knew everything, was
connected to everything. I was an infinite being.” She said,
“It's your true self.” Alfred Lord Tennyson told that from
boyhood he frequently had a “waking trance” in which it was as if
individuality was gone and he was part of the “boundless pure
being”. Vedanta teaches “Thou art that. All you see you are.
Thou art one with the Universal Being. Every soul is your soul.
Every body is your body. The Universe is my body.” We journey to
consciously touch and know that.

This
beautiful connection teaches us our oneness. We sense the presence,
the power, the oneness. We touch that beautiful wisdom moving
through life, and see that God is good all the time! God is good all
the time! All the time God is good! Practice this chance to vote
for love!

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Rev. David McArthur

Greetings! Here are some thoughts I'd like to share with you. I am a Unity Minister at Unity Center in Walnut Creek, CA. If you enjoy these thoughts, please drop by our church or visit our website to pursue these ideas in greater depth. http://www.unitycenter.net/

Mike McGuire

Greetings! I am a member of the Prayer Team at Unity Center Walnut Creek, and I have been asked to share my weekly Inspirational Messages here on this blog. These are brief summaries of Rev. David's wonderful Sunday sermons. I hope you find them helpful.

What is Unity of Walnut Creek

Unity of Walnut Creek is a spiritual community offering a positive path for spiritual living. We are located in the East Bay of the S.F.Bay Area, in northern California, Contra Costa County, near the communities of Concord, Pleasant Hill & Lafayette. (We are a short distance from Treat/Geary exit from I-680) We offer Sunday Services, Prayer Support, a Book Center, and many Classes, Special Events and Workshops to enhance personal and spiritual growth and foster wholeness in mind-body-spirit.